Answered

Help with One SL Stereo Pair L-R Balance

  • 31 October 2021
  • 44 replies
  • 1080 views
A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Hi, thanks in advance for any help you can provide with this issue.

I have a stereo pair of One SL’s on my desk. I’m having an issue with the stereo balance between the two speakers. When I start a song playing, the stereo balance is centered, but over approximately 15-30 seconds, the center image drifts off to one side (one speaker is becoming louder or softer, but never drifting all the way to one side). When I pause the music, then start it again, the image is again centered but proceeds to drift off center again. What is perplexing is that this happens when using the Sonos app streaming any music service, it happens with Roon streaming Tidal or Qobuz, it happens with the Tidal app using Tidal Connect, but it does not happen when streaming via Airplay from any source. Here are the steps I’ve already taken to attempt to resolve the issue:

Rebooted both speakers. Unpaired, then re-paired the stereo pair. Swapped left and right speakers in the stereo pair. Rebooted my wifi router while also rebooting both speakers afterwards. None of these steps changed anything. One thing I did notice is that it seems the stereo image always drifts to the slave speaker, not the primary.

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, what worked for you? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

icon

Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 31 October 2021, 22:30

View original
This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

44 replies

James L.
Badge +17

Hi @acbarn,

 

Thanks for your patience.

 

I’ve taken a look at your diagnostic and quite honestly, I see no reason at all why the issues you’ve described would be happening. When analysing the diagnostic I was checking a number of areas:

 

  1. Connection between the stereo paired speakers - the connection between your One SLs is excellent, and I don’t see as much as a single dropped packet in the last 20 minutes before diagnostic submission.
  2. General connection to the network - both speakers have good connections to the Boost, though the left one is slightly weaker than the right.
  3. Background interference levels - both speakers have low interference levels across all measurable areas.
  4. Errant volume commands - nothing to be found.
  5. Audio interruptions from the services - I found 1 dropout, though this affected both speakers and appears to have recovered quickly.
  6. Audio LR balance settings - dead centre and never changed.
  7. Hardware error logging - nothing in the last 17 hours before submission, and nothing concerning logged at all.

 

In short, I have no idea from the information provided in this thread or in the diagnostic why the stereo image is shifting like this.

I’ve found your open case with our customer care team and have left a note on there detailing what I’ve found.

Someone should get back in contact with you shortly via email.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
Ken_Griffiths

It seems to me you have already tried most of the troubleshooting steps, apart from an actual factory reset of each device, but before suggesting to try that, it might be best to first submit a system diagnostic report immediately after you next encounter the issue and make a note of its reference. Then contact/chat to the Sonos Support Staff via this LINK, to perhaps see if they can glean anything from your report.
 

If you do decide to go it alone and factory reset your devices, then ensure you only do one speaker at a time and get that speaker added back to your existing system and working, before resetting the other one.

J

It would depend what happens. I have never heard of a similar issue before, but I suspect it's just a weird effect of wireless communication glitches. It the problem disappears when the speakers are wired then that would support that hypothesis. 

J

I am out of ideas, I’m afraid.  I have not previously heard of such a problem, and really cannot think what might be causing it.  There is still a diagnostic to be examined.  That apart, the only other line of enquiry that I can think of would be if someone had very detailed knowledge of how a stereo stream from Airplay is handled differently from stereo streams from other sources (if indeed this differs at all).

Sorry I could not be of more help. 

Airgetlam

Different end point servers? Which opens up all sorts of transport issues, such as DNS. As well as bandwidth difference possibilities. 

All of the other choices are from an internet server to the speaker, without your phone being involved. AirPlay 2 is from your phone to the speaker, so it uses whatever server your phone is being told to contact, which often is not the same as what Sonos (the speakers) have been told to reach out to. 

I’d certainly be thinking about submitting a diagnostic to Sonos directly, and asking them what they see in the data. Which I assume you’re doing anyway, since they’re bumping to level 2 support. 

But John B’s test, even temporarily, would certainly help identify things,  if it was a bandwidth possibility. Probably why he suggested it. He’s a pretty smart cookie. And the nice thing about Sonos...not hard to move around the home temporarily. 

Bruce
G

Hi @John B 

I have a Sonos One 1st gen at home. I’ll try to pair it with each of my One SL to see if I have the same issue.

And yes, I tried using Airplay from my MacBook yesterday, and there doesn’t seem to be any balance issue.

I’ll try with my iPhone too, and let you know.

But thanks to @acbarn , we may have the use case here: the sound is balanced at first, then moves always to the same side after some seconds. A pause/play resets the sound dead center, then again, it moves to the side after some seconds.

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

It seems to me you have already tried most of the troubleshooting steps, apart from an actual factory reset of each device, but before suggesting to try that, it might be best to first submit a system diagnostic report immediately after you next encounter the issue and make a note of its reference. Then contact/chat to the Sonos Support Staff via this LINK, to perhaps see if they can glean anything from your report.
 

If you do decide to go it alone and factory reset your devices, then ensure you only do one speaker at a time and get that speaker added back to your existing system and working, before resetting the other one.

Thanks, Ken. I took your advice and just finished a chat session. My case has been bumped up to the next level. I’ll be following up tomorrow with a call to phone support. We’ll see what happens!

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Just following up here. I ended up purchasing a third One SL and used it to test against the existing stereo pair. I swapped it out with both of my older One SL’s and in any combination the stereo centering issue is still there. So it’s not the speakers.

I also purchased a Boost and hardwired it to my router, then checked to be sure that everything moved over to SonosNet (it did). That also didn’t solve the centering issue, though so far it did seem to eliminate the occasional dropout I was seeing. 

At this point there doesn’t really seem to be a solution that doesn’t involve replacing my modem/router, which I’m unwilling to do right now. I guess I’ll just use Airplay which continues to work fine.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. Great community here!

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Do your older Play:1 speakers (stereo paired) not have this audio drifting issue, if they are put in the same spot as the One SL’s, as that too would help to perhaps eliminate the matter being the local router/WiFi/Network environment?

Hi Ken,

The older Play:1’s were in this exact location for a couple of years with no issues. They now serve as rears to my Beam.

G

Hello,

I’m currently testing with Spotify connect, and I don’t have any issue.

So, it looks like the problem is present when the Sonos app is used to stream.

J

Hello,

I’m currently testing with Spotify connect, and I don’t have any issue.

So, it looks like the problem is present when the Sonos app is used to stream.

More useful info - thanks.  

Have you had a chance to try a paired One and One SL yet, using the Sonos app to initiate play?

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Sonos 2nd level support told me I have too many speakers without having one wired (9 total). I’m adding a Boost to see if that solves it. I’ll report back here either way. 

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

OK, so I spoke with Sonos support again today. It sounds like my case is going to be referred to engineering/IT. The tech said it sounds like firmware, but only guessing. They’ll let me know, but I may end up sending my speakers in if they can’t recreate the issue on their end.

In the meantime, my Play:1s are back on my desk and the faulty One SLs will take up temporary residence as rears to a Beam in my little bedroom TV system.

G

Hello,

I’m having the EXACT same issue here : bought a pair of Sonos One SL 1 week ago, paired them in stereo : the imagining was fine at the beginning of a song, then slowly moved to a side (usually the left side).

I tried to delete the pair, and group them as two separate speakers (both playing in mono in this case): same issue.

Tried to reset both of the speakers: same issue.

Received a third Sonos One SL today to replace the on who was lower than the other: same issue.

Could there be a bug in the latest One SL firmware?

J

Not sure about the Airplay thing, but you could connect one of your other speakers ( not from the troublesome pair) by Ethernet to your router.  This would  do the same as the Boost will do 

 

ratty

Wiring the two units together without putting the system into SonosNet mode will do nothing. The Ethernet ports are disabled in WiFi mode. 

Loss of sync like this tends to be associated with a rare hardware fault. In that case there will be clear evidence in the diagnostic's logs. 

F
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

[…]

considering I have three other stereo pairs on the same network that aren’t exhibiting this behavior. 

Any of those a pair of ones? You could then swap one of each and see if that solves it, or to identify the defective one

G

I don’t see how a router could affect the volume, or more the “fullness” of the sound of one speaker.

I tried briefly yesterday with a YouTube video in airplay, and you’re right, there didn’t seem to be any balance issue.

I don’t have any issue neither with my pair of Play 1.

I already had the Sonos support on the phone, and sent them multiple diagnosis, but there wasn’t anything wrong. That’s why they sent me a new speaker, which exhibits the same issue.

There should definitely be something wrong with the internal firmware of the speaker, I can’t see any other way.

FYI, I’m using the box from my ISP (Livebox 4 from Orange, in France).

J

I tried to delete the pair, and group them as two separate speakers (both playing in mono in this case): same issue.

This seems to me the most extraordinary observation so far, and suggests it isn’t really stereo balance at all (but sounds like it).  I suppose it is consistent with the earlier observation that the balance slider doesn’t move at all when the speakers are stereo paired.

The common feature between the grouped and paired set up is that one speaker (the left in the stereo pair, the one from which you group when grouped) will act as the group coordinator, feeding the other speaker its music data.  Perhaps there is something in the way that process is operating that is causing this effect??  (Very speculative)

I have to agree with Bruce that there must be enough One SL pairs out there for there to have been many more posts if there were a generic bug, but maybe something is interacting with other local features. (Also very speculative.)

Have either @Grator or @acbarn got a One they could pair with a One SL, alternatively with the One or One SL as the left speaker?

Like @acbarn , I would be interested in whether Airplay exhibits the same behaviour for @Grator , if he has an iOS device.

Edit: @Grator replied while I was typing my post.

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Have either @Grator or @acbarn got a One they could pair with a One SL, alternatively with the One or One SL as the left speaker?

I don’t have a One. I do have a 3rd One SL that I swapped into the pair in every combination resulting in exactly the same issue. 

J

Is the drift something you perceive from the volumes, or does the balance slider in tbe app actually move off-centre?

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Is the drift something you perceive from the volumes, or does the balance slider in tbe app actually move off-centre?

The balance slider doesn’t move. On tracks with a clear phantom center, where the kick drum, bass, and lead vocal start at dead center, I can easily hear them drift off to one side. It’s a shift in volume.

J

Are you able to experimentally connect the two speakers together by Ethernet, and see whether the problem occurs?

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Are you able to experimentally connect the two speakers together by Ethernet, and see whether the problem occurs?

I might be able to do that. What do you think that would that tell me?

A
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

I decided to make one more effort to get to the bottom of this today. I called in to support with my case number and got nowhere. The support person actually wanted me to take a video of my speakers with my phone and send it in (SMH). Of course, the phone video would be mono, which would make it worthless for troubleshooting a stereo issue. Reaching a point of frustration here. 

Are there any Sonos support staff active on this forum? If so, can you take a look at this diagnostic and let me know if you see anything strange? This was captured when the issue described above was happening.

Diagnostic #939061778

TIA. 

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings